Winning Words

Browse through the 'Winning Words' to find thousands of motivational and inspirational quotations, motivating stories, and more! Motivating basketball quotes and thoughts are effective and useful for handouts, office and locker room walls, bulletin boards, bedrooms and anywhere else you need some inspiration. Make sure to check out all the categories and come back often for new additions! For frequent quotes, be sure to follow @HoopsU on Twitter.

This Athletic Code of Ethics appeared in the May, 1922 edition of The Athletic Journal. The Athletic Journal began in 1921 and deemed themselves "A Professional Magazine for Coaches of the Country".
It is quite interesting to read the code with the different use of language and some dated terminologies, however, it is a very relevant code for your athlete's and basketball players today.
An Athletic Code of Ethics
As an athlete I am determined:
To play the game to the limit of my … [Read more...]

This image contains a Herbert Kaufman quote that is perfect to share with players. The full quote is also good:
Failure is only postponed success as long as courage coaches ambition. The habit of persistence is the habit of victory. ~Herbert Kaufman … [Read more...]

Imagine you are at a nice restaurant, enjoying a meal, when the fire alarm goes off…
Imagine the rush and panic and confusion on the faces of the people around you when smoke starts to come out of the kitchen… and then imagine an older woman two tables over, falling to the floor when she is struggling to move along with the crowd…
What do you think you would hear people saying in that situation?
More likely than not, there would be a few voices saying that “somebody should do … [Read more...]

Individual success is a myth, because it takes a team to achieve greatness.
Don’t agree? Consider the most well-known “individual sports” in our culture.
Andy Roddick, by age 21, was ranked number one in the world, the youngest American to hold this rank since computer rankings began in 1973.
But even though Roddick is well known as a singles player, his successes were not only the results of one man’s efforts. Roddick enjoyed a number of coaches, trainers, personal assistants, … [Read more...]

A little motivation today from Rocky Balboa...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s75D6WIDug
You, me or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life, but it ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much you can take and keep moving forward, that's how winning is done!
Now if you know what you're worth, go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you wanna be because … [Read more...]

You’ve heard about the Titanic, the ship that “not even God could sink.” Maybe God couldn’t sink it, but an iceberg sure did. The ship’s operator had received multiple warnings to “look out for icebergs,” and after the 6th warning he even shot back, “Shut up! I’m busy!” Perhaps he thought they didn’t look big enough to damage his huge ship, yet he forgot one important fact: 90% of an iceberg lies below the surface.
What a powerful metaphor for leadership. Dr. Tim Elmore, author of Habitudes, … [Read more...]